


I Saw You Yesterday

by xnatxstevex



Series: The Multiverse Theory [2]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, Neighbors
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-05
Updated: 2020-05-05
Packaged: 2021-03-03 01:00:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,081
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24026242
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xnatxstevex/pseuds/xnatxstevex
Summary: After Natasha moves to a crummy, jammed in, absolutely minuscule apartment in New York, she doesn't think think anything in her life was good. Until she started bumping into her across-the-hall neighbour every day before work. And after work. And just pretty much every time she leaves her apartment.Is he stalking her? Who knows.All she does know is that he's a snack for the eyes, and she wanted to take a bite.But wait a minute... is he stalking her?
Relationships: Steve Rogers & Natasha Romanov, Steve Rogers/Natasha Romanov
Series: The Multiverse Theory [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1728547
Comments: 4
Kudos: 48





	I Saw You Yesterday

It was perfect.

She was three years out of law school with two and a half years of experience and she was already offered a job as a New York lawyer.

She got an apartment a subway ride away from work, and when they sent her her salary she realized she would be set for life.

Until she saw her living accommodations.

It was cramped, nothing seemed to work, it was ridiculously loud at night, and all her neighbours were apparently morons.

It was her first day at work when she bumped heads with the man across the hall.

If that's what you could call it; the hallway was the width of only two Natashas.

"I'm so sorry!" He said, covering his head with his hand.

Nat chuckled. "It was my fault, I should have looked before opening the door." 

"What an apartment building we live in," he said. She laughed. Looking up, she took a good look at her neighbour. He was a tall, well built man with blonde hair and these startlingly blue eyes. She couldn't deny that he was obviously attractive. And his beard! It pushed him over the edge from cute and attractive to damn hot.

"Are you on your way out?" She asked.

He nodded. "Yeah, I work as a doctor downtown. You?"

"Lawyer. Which building?"

They talked until they arrived at the subway station, and Nat stopped.

"Which train?" He asked her. She laughed.

"I don't exactly know," she confessed. "I'm new to the city."

Steve nodded. "Well, your building is right near mine, I could take you there no problem on my way to work?"

She smiled. "I'd like that."

\-------------------------------

Natasha continued to bump into Steve every morning, and they commuted to work together. Steve joked that even though Natasha was now a month into her work and knew the subway route, he was still showing her where to go.

She had gotten to know him quite well over the time they'd been talking.

He used to be in the military, but realized medicine was his true passion a few years into his tour. He now worked as a surgeon at the hospital downtown, a few buildings away from Natasha's law firm. He was a New Yorker born and raised, though he originated in Brooklyn.

He was smart, hence his ability to graduate top of his class in med school, funny, and a well rounded and good human being. He'd always give a five dollar bill to any homeless people he ran into, and he was always respectful of Natasha, unlike many other men she'd met.

She asked him about it one day.

"Well, puberty hit me pretty late, in my last year of high school," he had explained. "The girls weren't exactly lining up to date me before then. So I promised if I was ever lucky enough to date one I'd treat her with nothing but respect."

"You're not dating me," she'd reminded him.

He chuckled. "It's just the right thing to do, Nat."

Oh, and that. Nat. The only other person in the whole world who called her that was her best friend Clint, who lived in Missouri. She was startled when he first used it, but it became a norm.

It began as just running into each other in the mornings, but then it evolved. Suddenly, he was at the grocery store, downtown at lunch, at the laundromat, by the bank, in a Starbucks. It seemed as though anywhere Nat was, Steve was, too.

Is he stalking me? She found herself asking regularly. She always shoed the thought away. He's Steve, he doesn't stalk. This is all some stupid coincidence.

But the more Nat found herself "coincidentally" running into him, the more worried she found herself being. This couldn't be a coincidence.

\----------------------

It was a month and a half after Nat first met Steve when she decided it was time to confront him. She didn't even bother asking to meet him; she knew it couldn't be more than an hour until she bumped into him on the street again.

She was right; not even ten minutes after Nat walked into the Starbucks did Steve come in as well.

"Hey, Nat!" He called. "Fancy seeing you here, haha."

Nat gestured to the seat in front of her, where Steve sat down.

"You want anything? I was about to get a coffee and maybe a muffin-"

"Steve, we need to talk," she said.

He frowned. "What is it?"

"I've noticed. Well, we keep running into each other. Everywhere. And I couldn't help but to- you know, I'm just gonna be blunt. It seems like you've been following me. SO I wanted to hear it from you."

Steve looks surprised, then embarrassed as his cheeks turned bright red.

"I, uh," he scratched the back of his head, then sighed. "This is awkward."

Nat raised her eyebrows. "Ao you are stalking me?"

"Yes. No! Well, it's a bit complicated."

Now she was genuinely interested. "How so?"

He took a deep breath. "Well... I wasn't following you to start but then. You were so interesting and fun to talk to, I'd never been this... entranced by a person I'd just met. Theres next to no-one in New York who's as fun as you. I started running into you places and every time it was the highlight of my day and so I kinda... started running into you more on purpose. But then it got out of hand and I thought you were suspicious and-"

Nat chuckled, halting Steve in his rant. "Thank god, I thought you were gonna like attack me in my sleep one day or something. If you wanted to hang out with me more you could've just asked!"

Steve inhaled again. "Well, it wasn't just that. I was scared because I like you, Nat. And I wanted to ask you on a date but the words never came out so I figured that was the next best thing. I'm sorry."

Nat laughed. "Friday night then?"

Steve looked up, shocked. "I'll pick you up at eight?"

Nat nodded, smiling as she got up. "It's a date."

Steve smiled down as she left the cafe.

"And Steve?"

He whipped his head up, to find her yelling across the room.

"Let's just say if we stopped 'accidentally' running into each other, I would be quite disappointed."

Steve smiled in response as she winked and walked out the door.

That was an outcome he didn't expect.


End file.
